Clothing Swaps-Anyone been to one?

suzysparklesalot

suzysparklesalot

Alumni
Hi Everyone,
I am thinking of ways to help our local animal society and I am kind of intrigued by the clothing swap idea.
Has anyone ever been to one? how do they work?
I found some info online and I see that some charge a admission charge of $5.00 or so. I 'm sure that money can go directly to the animal shelter.

So how does the swap itself work , is it that if you bring 10 items you get to take 10 items in exchange.

I would love to help them by cleaning my closets and I'm sure other would too

Thanks for any ideas,
Sue
 
Sue, I have been to them, but they were casual affairs, at friends' homes, more free-wheeling, than organized. People just brought things, set them out in piles and on tables, then the fun began. There were shoe departments, accessories areas and clothes on chairs and everywhere.

I guess you could arrange it like that, by tokens, according to number of items brought in.
 
I think that might work, we had a plant swap a few years ago and we just counted the items they brought in and gave them a slip with the number written on it.
I know I have lots of cool vintage items to donate and probably other stuff too.
Our humane society is always looking for ways to raise money I think this would be fun.
 
I attended a swap at a friends house, much like what Joules described. Very casual. Everyone brought a bunch of stuff and placed it on tables by catagory. From clothing to housewares. It was a total free for all! Everyone eating and drinking (wine makes everything so much more fun) and "shopping"! I picked up an incredible vintage dress at this swap, that is now my "go to" dress whenever I want to feel special. It was incredibly fun and very sucessful. Whatever was left over went to the Goodwill. I have heard of the token technique and taking a number- all which sound like good ideas, if it's more than a group of friends. Good luck and have fun!
 
This is a large scale swap that happened in my city but I did not attend.

http://theswapteam.org/blog

The only thing I disagreed with is that it was a one for one trade. So if I gave them a Gap tshirt or a pair of designer leather boots, I would only get one ticket. So perhaps putting things in two or three different trading categories based on quality might be an idea.
 
There's a night club in London called Swap-A-Rama, where you go dressed in clothes you are willing to swap, hit the dance floor, and when they sound a klaxon you swap an item of clothing with the person next to you! You leave dressed completely differently than how you arrive! I've never been but love the idea.

http://www.swap-a-rama.co.uk/extra_manifesto.php

I'm not really suggesting you try this for your fund raiser, but what a creative take on the clothes swap party!

Ruth
 
I've been to a few and they're a lot of fun! The group I swap with are very easy going. There is no minimum or maximum number of items you bring. We usually have a theme and do a pot luck for the swapping party. Each lady offers up a few item(s) and we seem to work out who gets it. If there are too many people who want the same item, we throw it in a middle pile and come back to it later. By the end, girls usually try things on, and we vote who it works best on, or the girls state their case (they're empty handed, brought a lot to swap, etc...) and the rest of the ladies vote on who should get the item. Everything left over gets donated or recycled for the next swap.

This method works pretty well, but it can take hours to get through everything!! We all covet vintage pieces, and I think it would be good to require everyone to bring at least one vintage item.
 
I have a special place in my heart for swaps this week :cool:

Normally the ones I attend are so casual we just lay things out, socialize and police ourselves on what we pick up in exchange.. so if I brought in three designer dresses I don't feel bad about leaving with six t shirts.

but I do like the tokens Idea
 
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